


To Set Things Right

by Fair_Feather_Friend



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Asexuality, Book/Movie: Prince Caspian, Book/Movie: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Book: The Silver Chair, Fix-It, Gay Male Character, M/M, Narnia, No The Last Battle, Post-Prince Caspian, Post-The Silver Chair, Post-Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23032207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fair_Feather_Friend/pseuds/Fair_Feather_Friend
Summary: After an urgent message, Edmund waits at the train station for Eustace, and there he sees a man he never thought he'd ever see again.(Or what if Caspian got to visit Earth for longer than five minutes.)
Relationships: Caspian/Edmund Pevensie, Caspian/Ramandu's Daughter | Liliandil (Mentioned)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 114





	1. Waiting

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [to wage euphoria against justice](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19742359) by [queerlytired](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerlytired/pseuds/queerlytired). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an urgent message, Edmund waits at the train station for Eustace, and there he sees a man he never thought he'd ever see again.

Eustace was late, which was not unexpected. He'd sent Edmund a message that they needed to meet urgently, and Edmund had dropped everything, hopped on a train and made the short trip from Cambridge. Edmund had a suspicion that the meeting concerned Narnia, and the last thing he wanted to hear his cousin gloating about his adventures. 

Edmund sat at the train station, looking up at the clock, wondering if he should have agreed to meet elsewhere. He watched the people bustle about their daily business, rushing here and there, so unlike Narnia.

From the corner of his vision he caught a flash of blue from the coat of a very handsome young man. There was something familiar about him, his bright blue eyes, his golden hair unfashionably long. His clothes slightly awkward as if he were unaccustomed to such attire but he held himself like a King. He scanned the platform, their gazes meeting in an electric moment and Edmund's heart skipped a beat.

It couldn't be.

"Edmund!" That voice, the one he'd dreamed of. 

"Caspian?" How? Why? 

Edmund was on his feet, and Caspian was racing for him, and they embraced as if they'd never thought to see each other again. Edmund clung tightly, and Caspian no less so, fearing that if they let go this would fade into memory. But they were solid, warm, breathing. 

"Ugh." Eustace pushed up to them. "Professor Kirke will be expecting you." 

Edmund couldn't tear himself away from Caspian to respond, instead addressing his friend. "How? How long for?" A few minutes, a lifetime, it would never be enough.

"Aslan said that I have things to set right here. I'm going to buy one of those boats Eustace loves, and sail beneath the world, see for myself the people who are upside down, and all the other wonders of this roundworld."

"It's not like that," Edmund said.

"Then I'll see what it is like. There's also the Telmarines and they're out there, somewhere in your world, and it would put my mind at ease to see how they fare." 

"Boats cost money here."

"As they did in Narnia, but Eustace assures me that we have means to get some."

"It wasn't like it was for you." Eustace thrust a large suitcase at Edmund. "Everything came back with us. The clothes alone will fetch a pretty penny, but the crown, the swords, the jewelry. You'll both be set for life."

Edmund dared to let go of all but Caspian's hand so he could sweep his cousin up in a hug. "Thank you. Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been reading a bit of Narnian fic lately. I actually love it so much more than the books and all the different takes on it. (It was actually Caspian/Edmund stories that brought me to AO3 a few years ago when I read them and loved them so much and then didn't comment.) 
> 
> I got to chatting to queerlytired in their comments and just wondered what if Caspian managed to make it to earth.
> 
> "Narnia's tragic. I think it really hits home in Silver Prince when Caspian is old and dying, having lived a life that ended up painful, with so much loss. I think that's the point where I'd let him actually step through into our world and become young again, and have the chance to meet up with Edmund again."
> 
> There's a scene right at the end of The Flight of Dragons, when Peter has returned to his own world and is standing in a shop, and the door bell rings, he turns around and the Princess he loves steps in, dressed in modern clothing. He'd thought he'd never see her again. They kiss. AND I JUST WANTED THAT FOR EDMUND AND CASPIAN. I wanted a happy ever after. 
> 
> The chronology in the fic is off because I wanted to start with the end. I wanted that high point first, and then the bits leading up to it. Because.


	2. Can't

"Caspian," said Edmund suddenly and sternly, "you can't do this." 

It was the most painful of betrayals. Caspian had expected Edmund of anyone to understand and support him. The opposition had been like a slap to the face. He would sooner have taken a sword to the heart than to listen to those threats to tie him to the Dawntreader if he dared conclude their journey with them. 

Love had been such a surprising, unexpected thing. The heat of it. The joy. The adventures in the daylight hours. The long nights they had done nothing but stay awake and talk. Each stolen touch, and kiss, and so much more had been a gift.

It had not been perfect but it had been theirs.

Caspian had hoped beyond hope that the Ed and Lucy could remain, as once King Frank, and Caspian's own Telmarine ancestors, had done so. But Ed had been reluctant to discuss the end of their voyage and what would happen next.

There was a look that sometimes Edmund got, when he was recounting his past as a King in the Golden Age of Narnia. Sad and wistful as if remembering all he had lost. Everything gone and he had not even had the chance to say goodbye. Edmund had done this all before, and Caspian was determined it would not end the same way.

In the end he hadn't been able to change a thing.

Caspian had turned that final argument over and over in his mind over the years. He'd held hope that he would see Ed again, one day. Yet when his star-wife died, and his son went missing, and the years rolled on in hopeless loneliness still they did not return. 

Caspian grew older than Edmund had ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was rereading and Caspian is absolutely devastated at the end of Voyage of the Dawntreader to an extent I hadn't even remembered. 
> 
> ALSO Aslan does not give Edmund and Lucy the same amount of warning that they'll never return that Susan and Peter get. They don't know until after they leave the Dawntreader. Just as they got no warning in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Which must have also been brutal. 
> 
> There's a fic out there, that I need to find, that had Edmund fall in love with a man during The Golden Age, and then lose all that when he returned, and it just broke me that idea. Just how devastating it must have been to lose everything.


	3. Love and Desire

The first portal to their roundworld that Caspian had seen was the one that Aslan had created for the Telmarines. Caspian had longed for it even then, and he'd have been as willing as Reepicheep to be the first one through if Aslan had not given him a warning glare. The Narnians had fought a war in his name, and now Caspian was expected to rule. 

Still he dreamed of it sometimes, and wondered what wonders were on the other side, and thought the Telmarines so fortunate to be able to go there. 

The second portal he had not seen yet still he felt its loss. Caspian had dreamed, all his life of escaping to a round world, and all the adventures he might have there, even before Edmund had told him such a place was real. It had been forbidden to him, just as he had been forbidden to travel with Reepicheep and Edmund, Lucy and Eustace. 

Reluctantly, Caspian did as Aslan told him to and remained when all those he loved left. King Caspian returned to Ramandu's Island, and took for his wife, and queen, the daughter of a star.

His star-wife had been perfect. He'd had no choice in loving her, as all who saw her did, nor any regrets in doing so. She was all that he could have ever dreamed of in wife and queen. Theirs was a love that was pure, devoid of any of the baser desires. Caspian did not miss that part of himself, washed away in the sweet waters at the end of the world. 

He was still not certain how Rilian had come to be, although he had no doubt his son was his for the Queen was as devoted to Caspian as he was to her.

Caspian would have had Caer Paravel filled with children, they're laughter ringing in the air. Sons and daughters to dote on. He'd always longed for family. For all that the old Kings and Queens had shared with each other and the bonds only siblings seemed to share with each-other. 

And yet, it had been no mystery to Caspian the reasons why that had never happened. It hadn't been perfection that he'd wanted. The only one he'd ever desired had been a Son of Adam, not the Daughter of a Star. 

Ramandu's Daughter shone upon all of Narnia, her kindness helping heal the damage that had come before. They'd ruled well side by side. The loss of her, his truest love, was devastating. 

The loss of Rilian had nearly destroyed him. 

Desire the like he'd never even known, that he could never have warned his son against, had stolen Rilian away. 

Ten years alone and Aslan never came.

Ten years of growing older, losing hope that the Pevensies would return to put things right once more. 

Ten years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd wondered about purity culture and the difficulties that some people have in consummating their marriages and how absolutely sexless Narnia seems. Even fauns/satyrs become sexless. True, we're mostly dealing with Christian children unconcerned about such things. 
> 
> I'm sure there's a theory out there, somewhere, that sex is the true villain of Narnia. The villains. The White Witch seduces Edmund. Rabadash wants Susan. Aravis is running from marriage. Rilian is seduced by the Green Lady. It's only once Miraz has a son that he sets to dispose of Caspian. 
> 
> And of course there's the whole problem with Susan. There's no mention of romantic entanglements for any of the other Pevensie children, or Digory, Polly, Eustace or Jill. 
> 
> Anyway! I'd wondered what would happen if you married an otherworldly creature who was exquisitely beautiful and pure. They're married so long and have just one son quite late in their marriage. Some of that might be Caspian always being off on adventures. But I liked the idea of them having a loving, but sexless marriage, and that not being a terrible thing. And how it contrasts with how Rilian was seduced away.


	4. You cannot want wrong things any more

"Do you mean to say," asked Caspian, "that you three come from a round world (round like a ball) and you've never told me! It's really too bad of you. Because we have fairy-tales in which there are round worlds and I always loved them. I never believed there were any real ones. But I've always wished there were and I've always longed to live in one. Oh, I'd give anything — I wonder why you can get into our world and we never get into yours? If only I had the chance! It must be exciting to live on a thing like a ball. Have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside-down?"

Edmund had shook his head. "And it isn't like that," he added. "There's nothing particularly exciting about a round world when you're there."

~

"Sir," said Caspian, "I've always wanted to have just one glimpse of their world. Is that wrong?"

"You cannot want wrong things any more, now that you have died, my son," said Aslan. "And you shall see their world, for as long as it takes you to set things right there." 

To see their world was not all Caspian had wanted. 

Caspian stepped into their world, sword in hand as Aslan had instructed. Their world was beautiful, even in its greyness. Solid. Real.

They were set upon by a gang of children, bullies of the worst sort and Eustace and Jill set about their revenge, Caspian backing them up. Soon the bullies turned tail, terrified and there was a great deal of wailing and sobbing.

In the midst of all this fuss Jill and Eustace slipped quietly indoors to change out of their bright clothes into ordinary things. 

Caspian looked back at Aslan. It was time to leave.

Caspian was dead. He should return with Aslan. His star-wife would be waiting for him if she were not now shining up above.

Caspian was real here, not a ghost as he'd feared. Not even old as once he'd been, a body strong with youth free of the aches and pains and weakness that had plagued him in his later years. 

_You cannot want wrong things any more._

Caspian wanted this world with all his heart. 

And he wanted a boy he'd loved a lifetime ago.

Edmund.

Caspian made his decision, turned his back upon Aslan, and followed Jill and Eustace into their world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happens at the end of the Silver Chair.
> 
> I can totally understand C.S. Lewis' revenge fantasy of having the boarding school bullies thrashed by Caspian, Jill and Eustace. At the same time... DAMN, they were just kids. It's as bad as Aravis' punishment. 
> 
> This ends just before the first chapter picks up. I wanted the ending first, because... well BECAUSE. :) 
> 
> (Got a feeling some of my notes are longer than the chapters.)
> 
> Please kudos or leave a comment if you liked. :)

**Author's Note:**

> I love Edmund/Caspian and the very tragedy of it. How distraught Caspian is at the end of Voyage of the Dawntreader when he realises that they are leaving and he cannot go with them. How he speaks, several times about how he longs to visit their world and has always dreamed of it. 
> 
> I got thinking about the end of the Silver Chair and how Caspian returns with Jill and Eustace, briefly, and it got me thinking, what if? 
> 
> Caspian is tragic. Ramandu's daughter feels like an afterthought, she never even gets a name. She's there, beautiful, but if he'd a choice Caspian would have travelled on with Lucy, Edmund and Eustace, instead of returning to her island. He seemed more resigned than anything.


End file.
